Social capital as a solution to mental health problems The effect of social capital on ‘depression’ and ‘loneliness’ via the effect of social cohesion and civic engagement

Abstract

This article discusses the effect of social capital on mental health. The expectations were that social capital has a positive effect on a person’s mental health and that there does not exist a direct relationship between social capital and mental health. According to previous research, social cohesion and civic engagement are related to social capital as well as mental health. Hence, the effect of social capital on mental health - via the indirect effect of social cohesion and civic engagement - was studied in SPSS using Hayes’s Process Macro. Two dimensions of social capital were analyzed separately: social capital in clubs/associations and social capital at work/school. Also, two dimensions of mental health were used in the analysis, loneliness and depression. The results show that the direct effect of social capital on mental health exists between all four dimensions. Additionally, the indirect effect of social cohesion only exists for social capital in clubs/associations on loneliness and depression. The effect of social capital on mental health via the indirect effect of civic engagement does not exist between all four dimensions of social capital and mental health.